The NEVERENDING Odd News Thread

It seems that almost on a daily basis someone in here finds some bit of odd news. Therefore, I felt that this would be appropriate to start such a thread, as an effort to consolidate future odd news items.

I decided to start with an engineering whoops type of news!

For 2,000 years the Trevi Fountain in Rome has provided a constant influx of fresh water for one of the most fabled sites in the city. Now, with summer around the corner, the supply has dried up — and it has nothing to do with global warming.
Water engineers blame the reduction to a trickle of the normally gushing Aqua Virgo on damage to underground conduits caused by work on a suburban garage. The builders say that they were assured that no archeological remains lay beneath the site.

Can you imagine being that engineer who caused the damage to a 2000 year old pipe! I am impressed with the knowledge of engineering at that time to create and maintain a system that is that phenomenal and lasted up to today. I guess it’s true, they don’t build em like they use to.

I like this guy. He has stick-to-itness (keeps trying to pass that test) and optimism (wants to marry a woman more than forty years his junior). He might not be bright, but he doesn't let that stand in the way of his goals.

"I am very good at reading women, but I get into trouble for using the Braille method."

HEADLINE: 8-Foot Alligator Removed From Basement
in Buffalo of all places.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- An alligator raised in the basement of a house in Buffalo is headed to a new home in a more gator-friendly place, Florida.

A former Buffalo couple who operate a reptile sanctuary in Tampa removed the eight-foot-long gator from the Buffalo home yesterday. The person who owned the 170-pound reptile had contacted the state Department of Environmental Conservation and said he couldn't care for the gator any longer.

A DEC officer checked out the gator and contacted Laura and John Paner, who run the Croc Encounters Reptile Sanctuary.

It's illegal to keep an alligator in New York state, but officials say the man who raised the gator won't face any charges because he turned himself in.

The man who owned the gator built an indoor pond in his basement. He also owns more than 20 lizards and large snakes.

The Shotspotter

Richmond police are adding a new tool to their crime-fighting arsenal: acoustic sensors that can pinpoint the location of a gunshot in a matter of seconds.

Officials are bringing the Shotspotter Gunshot Detection & Location System to a troubled 3-square-mile area that includes the North Richmond, Iron Triangle, Santa Fe, Coronado, Pullman and Stege neighborhoods. It's expected to be operating in about three months, Capt. Allwyn Brown said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - It'll be Barry Manilow versus the mall rats. The New Zealand city of Christchurch hopes that putting the American crooner's smooth and gentle tones into the mix of music to be broadcast through the central mall district can pacify unruly teens who congregate there_ or at least convince them to go elsewhere.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.Abraham Lincoln

Hmmm....

0.50 should be dead. After a record day I ended up in the ER with a 0.48, a broken tibia, fibula, and shattered ankle. 2 plates, 9 pics and a few thousand dollars later, I entered rehab.

Chet overheard at a VERY VERY FANCY restaurant:

I'LL HAVE THE LIVER PLEASE

“The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But, the way of non-violence leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved community.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- See more at: http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-ph....r7W02j3S.dpuf